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Topic: New Calls To Strip Churches of Tax Exempt Status After Same-Sex Marriage Ruling (Read 1335 times)

legendary
Activity: 1176
Merit: 1001
minds.com/Wilikon




Careful with that baby, there's a Catholic priest in the scene...


He will get his turn, after them...


legendary
Activity: 3906
Merit: 1373
Yikes! That baby is Muslim!!!

 Grin
legendary
Activity: 2786
Merit: 1031




Careful with that baby, there's a Catholic priest in the scene...
legendary
Activity: 1176
Merit: 1001
minds.com/Wilikon
legendary
Activity: 3318
Merit: 2008
First Exclusion Ever


Churches spent a lot less in charity than what is claimed by them.

Can you prove this?

If common sense isn't enough you can find lots of material online.

Comment on a study: http://holysoup.com/2013/08/06/the-shocking-truth-of-church-budgets/

You could argue about comparing a church’s expenses to a public charity’s expenses. But the enormous disparity is striking, especially to the public. It’s made worse by looking at how churches allocate funds to direct ministries. According to the ECCU study, churches use 3 percent of their budget for children’s and youth programs, and 2 percent for adult programs. Local and national benevolence receives 1 percent of the typical church budget.


"In the United States, 50 percent of social services are provided by the Catholic church,"

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2013/mar/19/frank-keating/does-catholic-church-provide-half-social-services-/


Mormons are all for profit: http://investigations.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/08/13/13262285-mormon-church-earns-7-billion-a-year-from-tithing-analysis-indicates

 From your politifact link: "So by our estimate, Catholic-affiliated charity amounts to 17 percent of the funds spent by nonprofits on social services -- well short of the 50 percent Keating cited. Even doubling this share to create a generous margin of error brings it to 34 percent -- still well short of half."

Just catholic churches? So what? This one idiot overstated numbers, does that not mean that is not a large % of charitable funding? How much will that number be after taxes? What will that tax money go to? Also do you think this is some how limited just to catholic charities? The law doesn't work like that. People are just being tricked into demanding their own slavery.
legendary
Activity: 2786
Merit: 1031


Churches spent a lot less in charity than what is claimed by them.

Can you prove this?

If common sense isn't enough you can find lots of material online.

Comment on a study: http://holysoup.com/2013/08/06/the-shocking-truth-of-church-budgets/

You could argue about comparing a church’s expenses to a public charity’s expenses. But the enormous disparity is striking, especially to the public. It’s made worse by looking at how churches allocate funds to direct ministries. According to the ECCU study, churches use 3 percent of their budget for children’s and youth programs, and 2 percent for adult programs. Local and national benevolence receives 1 percent of the typical church budget.


"In the United States, 50 percent of social services are provided by the Catholic church,"

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2013/mar/19/frank-keating/does-catholic-church-provide-half-social-services-/


Mormons are all for profit: http://investigations.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/08/13/13262285-mormon-church-earns-7-billion-a-year-from-tithing-analysis-indicates
legendary
Activity: 3318
Merit: 2008
First Exclusion Ever
First of all tax is theft, so any time there are more taxes I am not for it, I am not sure how more being taken from others some how befits you personally considering the financial black hole that has become the US government. Second of all reducing the ability for these churches to fund themselves is very much so a direct attack on them. Yeah of course there always some fat cat leeches skimming off the system, but that is the case in absolutely every industry. It doesn't make it ok, but it also doesn't mean you throw the baby out with the bathwater.

We are talking about a situation where the hard working middle class is being made to pay hefty taxes, and at the same time individual churches, some of which are having tens of millions of USD in annual funding is being exempted from paying any tax. I don't think that this is fair at all. Either abolish the taxes, or make them uniform for everyone without any exceptions.

I never justified it or said it was right. My point was throwing more money into a black hole won't fix anything and will have negative side effects such as lack of funding for actual charities. If there are truckloads of rice going to Africa, and the truck driver steals a few bags to sell for himself, should we tax the whole truck now and cause less people to be fed just so the truck driver pays his fair share? I understand and agree with your argument, but removing their tax exempt status will not fix anything at all. It is basically like two little sisters playing with their toys, and one of the sisters breaks theirs and then cries that its not fair. If you don't like the fact that you are taxed, do something about it, don't just demand its imposition on more people. That is idiotic. 

This is very clearly a divisive attempt of dividing the nation even further along race, religion, sexual orientation, class, age, etc. These are Marxist tactics designed to destroy the nations ability to act in unison to defend itself. All this religious intolerance is getting out of hand. Religions have convinced people to kill, we get it... so has money, and corporations, government, etc, but we don't abolish those things.
member
Activity: 70
Merit: 10
Before Disney evolved and went LGBTQ.

legendary
Activity: 1176
Merit: 1001
minds.com/Wilikon
Yes, churches should pay taxes.  I go to church unfortunately, my parents make me, and we are VERY small with only 70 members.  With only 70 members they still have 50,60k in a bank account. My church does do a lot of good things and provide free services for the community but I still believe they should be taxed.


Do you wait for the logistic of your church to do good for the community or do you help out as much as you can directly and for free?

60k as cashflow for helping a whole community is not much...


legendary
Activity: 3906
Merit: 1373
Taxation in America is in the process of backfiring right now, through the things that Karl Lentz is showing people.

Taxation is slavery. If it is donations that people give, then it is not taxation; it's donations.

Slavery has been abolished. All it takes is people using the law the right way to get out of taxation by showing that it is slavery. Getting exemptions from the IRS isn't the right way.

Google and Youtube "Karl Lentz common law."

Smiley
full member
Activity: 154
Merit: 100
That Darn Cat
Yes, churches should pay taxes.  I go to church unfortunately, my parents make me, and we are VERY small with only 70 members.  With only 70 members they still have 50,60k in a bank account. My church does do a lot of good things and provide free services for the community but I still believe they should be taxed.
sr. member
Activity: 770
Merit: 250
Why should the places of worship be exempt from taxes? Now most of them are acting just like organized business cartels, especially the Catholics, Muslims and various evangelical sects. These people should be taxed like any other business, since most of the religious activity seems to be for the creation of profit and asset building.

This may be the only thing I have ever agreed with you upon. These religious organizations should not and should never have been tax exempt. America is finally waking up.
legendary
Activity: 3766
Merit: 1217
First of all tax is theft, so any time there are more taxes I am not for it, I am not sure how more being taken from others some how befits you personally considering the financial black hole that has become the US government. Second of all reducing the ability for these churches to fund themselves is very much so a direct attack on them. Yeah of course there always some fat cat leeches skimming off the system, but that is the case in absolutely every industry. It doesn't make it ok, but it also doesn't mean you throw the baby out with the bathwater.

We are talking about a situation where the hard working middle class is being made to pay hefty taxes, and at the same time individual churches, some of which are having tens of millions of USD in annual funding is being exempted from paying any tax. I don't think that this is fair at all. Either abolish the taxes, or make them uniform for everyone without any exceptions.
legendary
Activity: 1246
Merit: 1000
Tax exemption is not exactly subsidy.
There are countries where the Government actually pays for the upkeep of religious monuments, pilgrimages (including trip to Mecca/Medina) etc. Tax exemption seems very mild compared to that.  Grin
full member
Activity: 161
Merit: 100


Churches spent a lot less in charity than what is claimed by them.

Can you prove this?
legendary
Activity: 3906
Merit: 1373
Since nobody can follow where his tax money is going, and what product or service was purchased by government with the exact dollars he paid in, perhaps we should go the other route and make everything tax exempt.

Smiley
legendary
Activity: 3906
Merit: 1373
Most of the sales industry has to do with convincing people that they need some kind of service or product. Then the people buy voluntarily.

A great example is whole life insurance. Whole life insurance is simply term insurance with an investment attached. Yet the whole life insurance investment shows the poorest returns of any investment. Yet it, and universal life (which is really just a glorified whole life plan), both sell $millions or $billions in policies right now.

Social Security is another example of poor returns for the money invested.

Smiley
legendary
Activity: 2786
Merit: 1031
You guys never watched Marjoe?

Religion is just a business like any other, well, if leeching the money out of suckers and gullible people can be considered a business...

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068924/
legendary
Activity: 3318
Merit: 2008
First Exclusion Ever
Why is it necessary to attack the funding for all religious organizations? A lot of these groups run actual substantive charities that help lots of people in demonstrable ways.

No one is going to attack the funding. The proposal is just to levy a tax on them, just like other businesses such as restaurents and coffee shops. I agree that some of that money is used for charity purposes. But what about the rest, which makes up the vast majority? You can't say that money which is being used to buy BMWs for the Bishops and Cardinals should be exempt from tax.

First of all tax is theft, so any time there are more taxes I am not for it, I am not sure how more being taken from others some how befits you personally considering the financial black hole that has become the US government. Second of all reducing the ability for these churches to fund themselves is very much so a direct attack on them. Yeah of course there always some fat cat leeches skimming off the system, but that is the case in absolutely every industry. It doesn't make it ok, but it also doesn't mean you throw the baby out with the bathwater.
legendary
Activity: 3766
Merit: 1217
Why is it necessary to attack the funding for all religious organizations? A lot of these groups run actual substantive charities that help lots of people in demonstrable ways.

No one is going to attack the funding. The proposal is just to levy a tax on them, just like other businesses such as restaurents and coffee shops. I agree that some of that money is used for charity purposes. But what about the rest, which makes up the vast majority? You can't say that money which is being used to buy BMWs for the Bishops and Cardinals should be exempt from tax.
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